Paphos tourism ‘irrevocably hurt’ by pandemic fallout

As a tourist destination, Paphos has been irrevocably hurt from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the head of the trade and industry chamber said.

Marios Stylianou told the Cyprus News Agency that recent arrivals aside, hotel occupancy is very low, and problems were worsening.

He said the island’s epidemiological condition did not allow for optimism despite them hoping it would have been better.

Stylianou said UK arrivals were low, as were those from Israel.

The tourism industry is hurt, he said, and expected arrivals in the next months could not reverse the situation.

Tourism aside, the district was also facing labour shortages both skilled and unskilled.

Stylianou said there were no human resources to work in industry at present and businesses were facing serious problems.

The district’s trade and industry chamber was carrying out a study in a bid to identify the scale of the problem and following that, it would seek a meeting with the labour minister to discuss possible solutions.